Wednesday, 24 December 2014

Titanic Ultra - Sept & Tollymore Ultra - Nov 2014

After the Mourne Ultra run on 6th June 2014 I was very
pleased on being able to complete such a long distance and also bearing in mind
running on trails and elevation ups and downs.

After this I gained the confidence to enter a longer
distance that of the Titanic 102k 7th September 2014. This event was also run from
organisers 26 Extreme. It started in 2012, 100 yrs after the titanic sunk and it
was the inaugural 100k race. Also the twist being each year after the first year,
they add another 1 k to it. So in 2014 it was 102k.

I knew that moving from 52 miles in the Mourne Ultra to 63
miles total in this event would be obviously tougher because it was longer, but
from speaking to people that had done the run beforehand, I knew it obviously
would be alot flatter thankfully. A friend Martin I knew from races had said he
preferred the Mourne ultra because you went up and down a lot you got a chance
to work different muscles, whereas if you ran on flat course most of the time
it becomes extremely repetitive and wearing on same muscles. With that in mind
I tried to focus on the fact that in plain terms, flat is easier and hopefully
an extra 11 miles shouldn’t be too tough distance wise.

After resting after the Mourne Ultra, I re-focused on a
running plan with regular long runs at weekends and back to backs as usual when
I could. My first memorable good long run post the Mournes was the weekend of the
12th July. I ran from Newcastle and in the morning there were hundreds of folk
getting ready for the big 12th celebrations. It was kind of surreal seeing all
these folk dressed up and me with my bouncy water bottles and sweaty face
running through the crowds. Because there were no cars on the roads because of
parades in imminent hours ahead when I did spot the police I almost wished they
asked me to get off the road saying 'no running on the road please'. I would
have answered them with a smile about 'if others allowed to walk on the road today,
then why can't I run on it?'

Anyhow’s the run went very well despite being shunned away
from the owners of Seaforde butterfly garden when I accidently ran around their
grounds looking for a few extra miles to make up before heading back into Newcastle
where I was staying with my folks. As I headed back I made a diversion into the
lovely Murlough beach for a quick run around it, then back to Newcastle which
rounded it up to 24 miles in total. I was happy that I could do the long miles
ok without any major probs. The day after I did 13 miles based on the theory of
‘running on tired’ legs.

On the day of the event it got off to a good start with only 25 or
so folk taking part.

We joked about the lack of toilets and the grief we got
using the local hotel toilets with staff having to let us in the locked front
door each time. I met Martin again and
he was his usual cheery self.We ran
around the Titanic quarter a bit to make up the extra 1 k before starting to
head towards our midway destination just beyond Ballywalter. The route was
trail mostly on trail paths with some road running.

The weather of the day was fine and all was good. I wondered
whether I would need a headlamp for the final 25 k or so and whether I would
meet cut off times etc but here I was and there was no turning back. I settled
into my rhythm well and before long I knew it the miles were creeping up which
brought a smile to my face.

As I settled in to my stride my pacing matched another fella
in white t - shirt and it seemed we both took turns sitting on the front of
each other.

When we approached Holywood he eventually dropped me as he picked
up his pace. After this I was on my own. During this time I recall having to
make a pit stop and do what ‘bears do in the woods’ – you know what I mean (thankfully
I had brought along some toilet roll, just in case).

A bit later I caught a couple both in yellow running for a
charity. Their pace was good and steady and for a few miles a debated with
myself whether I should overtake them or just sit behind. I knew it was going
to be a long day and there was no point in pushing myself when I didn’t need
to. So I decided to sit behind them and just go with the flow.

Next thing I knew we had crept up to the 26.2 mile mark as
we approached the half way mark. I grabbed some food and drink from my drop bag,
re-stocked my vest and tried not to spend too much time chatting to folks
before the off. I think we had at least half hour before the cut off time. Paul
the volunteer hurried out the couple that had decided to sit down and do some
stretching. I asked him about the headtorch issue but he said I should be ok so
that consoled me a bit. I began running again homeward bound retracing the
route we came in.

I held off the other two for a while before they overtook me
and I got dropped soon after as they disappeared into the distance. Eventually
I was on my own with no one I could see in front or behind me.

These times when out in a race are a bit weary in case you
miss a turn or are tempted to stop for a while - if others are about you are
encouraged to keep up your momentum and you don’t need to think to much about
focusing on the trailpath, just follow the person in front. The trail I took
bought me into a caravan park (which I didn’t encounter on the way out) and I
got a bit lost I ran into the centre of it before joining the outer trail where
I saw some other runners thankfully. By this stage the other folk taking part
in the marathon and challenge walk of the day were on the out as well on the
trail route so it was a bit busier with regular passer by egging me on.

At this stage I After this as I had done over 30 miles I
needed to draw a lot more mental strength to carry me on so I focused on
reaching Donaghadee and subsequently Bangor, essentially to break down the
remaining stages of the day. I tried to break down the remainder of the race
into small chunks. If I could reach Donaghadee and then Bangor I knew that
Belfast was my final stop and hopefully no cut offs to worry about or death
march walk would be hitting me to early.

As I approached Ballyholme I reverted to walk runs.
Thankfully at this stage I met Kevin, another runner from Dublin. Kevin is a
very enthusiastic guy who has taken part in loads of marathons and had
travelled all over Ireland, sleeps in his van, gets up and runs. He had some
amazing stories to tell and was such a great guy. He helped me forget my pains
and aches and we eventually ended up running together for the rest of the day.
We shared in our running experiences as we ran and walked together as we ticked
off the remaining miles.

Later in the day as we approached Holywood I got another
welcome surprise with my brother Stephen who had come. This was a complete
surprise as I had not given him any idea of where I would be at any time and
told him that I didn’t want to trouble him coming out on the day; but as usual
he is very supportive. Me and Kevin joked with Stephen that we needed to walk
most of the last part of the run because we had just run two marathons, so we
had a good excuse to mostly walk the last part.

As we approached the harbour estate part of the outskirts of
Titanic quarter my chest was a bit tight when running sometimes. I thing this
was because of the recent smoking periods I go on and off of. Thankfully Kevin didn’t push me too hard and suggested going
lamppost to lamppost alternately walk/ running at times. Toward Titanic final
few kilometres Kevin happened to mention that he had an urge for ice cream. A
wee while later Stephen cycled on ahead of us and disappeared. Shortly later he
cycled back and pulled out two proper thick milk ice creams. Me and Kevin's
face lit up and these were a welcome surprise. This was very thoughtful of
Stephen, a great one man support crew.

Soon after we entered the final few corners and ran in
together to the finish with beaming smiles. An amazing day, great company and
an experience I will never forget!

In my goodie bag after the Titanic Ultra I noticed a flyer
leaflet for a new 26 Extreme event being held in Tollymore Forest.

After a while I decided this would be my next race before the end of the year.

The weeks leading up to Tollymore I hadn’t been doing my
weekly runs as regular. I did my weekend runs ok but I was to lazy and not really
motivated with the weekly runs. I ideally would do weekday runs first thing in
morn but recently it has been raining a hell of a lot (no excuse really).

On my birthday mid October I remember thinking about the
year that was coming to an end and the type of events I had focused on in 2014.
Here I was on a Friday night passing my 38th birthday thinking of my training
run tomorrow of 31 miles to do. Hard to believe I thought I could do this kind
of distance I thought on a training run (although not my longest training run
of 43 miles before Titanic). The last 4 yrs all I had focused on was triathlons
and here I was happy in 2014 focusing purely on running only…but running long;
and boy was I loving it, especially the trails.

At the start of November I did a really good 20 mile run
through the Mournes which was a last minute confidence booster before the big
day. I went from Tullybrannigan, through Tollymore Forest entering the Mournes
via Trassey Track. After this went through BrandyPad
to Hares Gap. I intended to head off the track after Commedagh before you hit
Donard, but due to unfamilarity of the route and as it was a bit misty I ran a
little bit past Donard. On this track I thankfully met a few walkers who
pointed out a small off track trail which led me to the saddle between
Commedagh and Donard. After this it was plain sailing down the familiar
'tourist' trail from Slieve Donard wall into Donard Forest. I needed still to
make it up to 20 miles so I used some up and down trails around the forest
until I reached the required 20 miles need for my training plan for that day.
As it turned out my elevation 1200 metres for that session which I was really
pleased with. The Tollymore event was going to be over 1500 metres so I really
needed some elevation training. After doing this run I felt reasonably good and
bursting at the seems to get going for upcoming race.

Unfortunately though a week before the race I got a bad tummy bug which lasted
a few days. I lost some appetite and had a sore throat and slight cough 2 days
before the event. Thankfully tummy bug cleared just in time and the last couple of days
I was eating loads to make up for recent illness.

Going into this event the distance I wasn’t overly nervous. I knew I could cover the milage ok but the level of elevation was my
main concern. I knew would be tough. Mourne Ultra I suppose was the hardest of
the 3 ultras this year bearing in mind the terrain being technical and the most
elevation 2250 m. I know that Titanic was longer, but the good point of it was
that it was reasonably flat throughout.

The night before Tollymore I had stayed in Newcastle at my
folks house and had my usual Lloyd Grossman pasta sauce jar with generous
helping of pasta and some garlic bread. In the morn I grabbed some porridge,
muffins and a banana to set me up for the day. Tollymore Forest Park was 2
minutes away which was very handy and I arrived and registered with little to
no anxiety issues to deal with. After a few chats with some folk we set off and
I settled in.

The route itself was 3 laps of 13 miles. One of the
organisers had said this was the first year of this event and he thought it
quite possibly be the hardest event of the various running events they host
throughout the year. When I heard this I thought that it was important to get
over the first lap to assess how hard the elevation would be and to judge my
pace from there on.

As always I just went on a comfortable running pace the
first few miles. As the terrain changed with slight undulations I kept an eye
on my Garmin Fenix 2 watch showing the total elevation achieved. It appeared as
the miles passed that the harder climbing would be towards the latter part of
the lap. I decided as it was going to be a long day that I would walk the hills
and run the rest. This would be my strategy.

As the more severe hills came and passed I eventually passed
the first lap (where our drop bags were kept). The trails despite a lot of rain
recently were in good condition. Fair enough, at stages I got pretty wet feet
and the odd stone in my shoes but things were going pretty well.

There would be no point in exhausting myself on the hills so
I walked the steeper ones. For nutrition I had tracker bars and nutrigrain bars
in my Ultimate Direction Backpack Vest. Hydration wise I had a tin of diet coke
in one with a tin of DrPepper in the other bottle. Each
time they were a quarter remaining I refilled at a water station and I
continued on ok. I had gels as well but ended up only using a couple of them
when I felt the blood sugar levels a bit low.

Weather wise for the day it was pretty bad. Three quarter of
the time it rained. Sometimes pretty heavy and I debated weather I should use a
sun visor to keep the rain hitting the face which was slightly annoying. I had
my rain jacket in my drop back but between my thermal vest, t shirt arm warmers
and gloves I got by pretty ok.

After the first lap I met up with a good friend Emma from
Dundalk that I met at the Mourne Ultra. Me and Emma also got chatting to fellow
runner Mark who had also run the Mourne Ultra. The three of us later we
separated and went our own separate paces as the miles grew on towards the last
lap.

At the start of the third lap Emma set off with ease ahead
of me to finish third female runner of the day. Also on the last lap I got chatting with a girl I met Julie from Omagh who was taking part in the Marathon distance. As we got talking about trail running
etc I found out she enjoyed obstacle course runs and she knew Keith from Dungannon who I have known through the
triathlons I have done the last few years. We agreed it was important to get
out in the fresh air and enjoy the fun and banter of so many new and exiting
new sporting activities nowadays. Apart
from Julie I saw very few other
runners from the marathon/half and 10k runs that were also being held on the
same day.

As we approached the last few miles our pace had slowed. As
we entered Tollymore Forest Car Parkfinish I
noticed people cheering Julie on so I let her run on a bit and smile and get
some photos etc as she finished.

I then finished just after her feeling happy
and thankfully not too exhausted as I had done on previous event.

Overall I once again really enjoyed this day. It was well
organised and the route is a good test for doing an ultra with a bit of
elevation thrown in for good measure. The only complaint I would have would be
the weather, but even dispite this the smiles and company shared more than made
up for it. A fun day had by all.

Tollymore Finish time - 7hrs 24mins. Av pace 11.20.

Since the event I have tried to think about what to focus on
next year, whether to go back to triathlons after a year out or continue my
running adventures in 2015.

I like the idea of making up my own challenge event also. I
have some friends that just do their own homemade event. Something to think
about anyway between now and next year. We will see what happens.

As I finish this entry today I noticed I got a black
toenail. Not sure if I can claim its cause of the running a lot or just injury
because of weekly footie, but its cool looking anyway.